Author
Topic: Darvin Greycastle - See No Evil (Read 246 times)

"...As one rises and the other falls, I cannot help but reflect upon the endless struggle itself. Is it a contest of strength? A quest for dominance? Does one climb to the highest point in our sky only to grow tired and become endlessly usurped by the greater force of the other who has had time to rest while out of sight? While downtrodden and forgotten, only to be talked about by those who have a reason to anticipate its return? Or is it some great chase? Are they lovers who long to be joined but understand that such a thing could never be? Out of responsibility, duty, or fear, they stay to the course they've been assigned. They resign themselves to their place in this world, and the role they were given. How admirable and how necessary. This truly represents the great struggle we face.

Or perhaps they're the same. Two halves of one thing, a haunting omen and a brilliant light. A burning heart balanced by a cold and thoughtful mind. Each living in harmony because they are not aware of each other any more than one of your hands takes notice of the other. This leaves the question of 'who then, is the mind that controls them all?' Could one become greater than a limb? Rise above the role of servant to an endless (perhaps pointless) cycle? Of course, to ask the question is to have your answer.

In the end, one replaces the other forevermore. They both reign as lord of their domains for their allotted time, and then recede. It is something that is ignored because it is something that has always been, and is presumed to continue forever. But what if it did not? The Ezrites tell of a time of darkness, in which the dawn no longer comes and death walks the land. The 4th sect in particular prepares for this time, claiming that it is closer than..."

I heard it all, muffled as if a thousand miles away. Distorted as if I saw it a lifetime ago. And then every sound was a crashing boom, every ray of light a blinding lance. My feet grow tired but on I walk. My eyes are blurry and out of focus but I still search. My ears hear nothing but the drone of my own words, but I listen beyond what is spoken aloud. My spear is sharp and my shield is sturdy. My soul is yours and my mind is focused. I am armored in faith, and my hand reaches out to deliver your message. We will bring peace to those who only know war. We will bring unity to those who divide. We will bring the truth that has been so long resisted by those who only speak lies.

As one rises and the other falls, we work to break the cycle. These people will be free at last, and they will know who misled them.

"...Why are you here, anyways? You had a good thing going for yourself, didn't you?"

"If that's what you want to call it, I suppose so."

"You were a trader, right? In Athkatla?"

"It was another life, but yes."

"The coin was good?"

"I wasn't going hungry."

"Then you're wasting your time here! You ask me? I say go back and pick up where you left off. You're not like us anyways, this kind of life, it don't suit you."

"I wasn't asking. But tell me, my friend - how are you and I so different? Why are you here?"

"Don't get your feelings all hurt. I just mean you aren't in it for the right reasons. Me? I like the rush. I like the struggle. Being there when they take their last breath. The power I hold over them."

"So you just like killing. Have you lost sight of why we're here? Of what we aim to do?"

"There isn't a greater aim, you idiot. It's about taking what you're strong enough to take, and damn everyone else. You're nothing special, just because you act all proper. Just because you claim you have some great secret plan to hide being SOFT. What makes you so sure I'm not the one who knows what this is really about, huh? What makes you so sure that you are not supposed to be like me?"

"Then I suppose we are about to find out for certain which of our methods our Lord has more use for."

"What do you mean? Out with it, then!"

"May the truest servant prevail."

"What are you- You can't do that in here! You wouldn't! We had an agreement! SOMEBODY STOP TH- "

I know that each moment that passes draws me one step closer to the final act of this grand play. Every night, every hour, every minute, it all slowly drifts away as the curtains prepare to fall. I see them, an irritating light stopping me from sleeping. An annoying buzzing fly that I just can't find. The rickety wheel on the cart that will only break at the worst possible time. They're coming for me, and I have invited them in. All that's left is to set fire to the theater and bar the doors. If I'm inside when it burns to the ground, then I can be reduced to ash knowing that they were all inside with me.

But I do not think my Lord would be done with me so easy. No, this is only the beginning. For every great end gives birth to a new start. Every rise of the sun sets the stage for the night's dark return. It is inevitable that I will be destroyed, and it is a fool's mission to try prevent my return. This is the way it will be, for this is the way that it has always been.

And there is only one who can stop it.

And it is by his command that I am here.

Make yourselves ready, my unworthy foes. Kneel in prayer and plan your moves. When the Price of Lies strips away all that protects you, when the Dark Sun destroys all you set in motion against him, I want you to know that you could not have possibly been more prepared. I want you to feel the shame of the truth - the truth that even your strongest, most desperate efforts were not not enough. I want you to know that the will of even your most mighty hero was broken by the end.

I want you to despair in the knowledge that you, and all like you, have failed.

A light is snuffed out and a bond eternally broken. And yet, the pack of fumbling hunters still clings desperately to hope like moths flitting toward the flame. His wife still filled with the fiery disposition of the rebel, refusing to accept her fate. Refusing to acknowledge she's been bested. Refusing to kneel before the obvious power on display before her. This, I shall never truly understand. What gives these people hope? What forces their hearts to keep beating, their souls to keep burning? What do they see? Can they not tell that it is all a terrible, disgusting lie? Are they not enraged to find out they are slaves to the greatest web of falsehoods ever woven?

I grow weary of the cold grey wind that I have come to know as my place of home. It is not a land for the mortal man, it was never a place meant to harbor even my hungry soul. The noose closes in and I can feel the watchful eyes of a thousand wolves waiting for a sign of blood. Though I reach for the darkness that rests within the breast of these 'heroes', it is an unraveling that takes time. Time that is growing short.

There are fleeting moments in this symphony of shouted lies that I am fearful to admit - I have questioned my holy cause. The words of The Seeker haunt me in the few moments of fitful sleep that I find. This world, its masters, its purpose. Cyric knows every lie that is uttered, but his voice has long been a distant whisper of its own. Though I shout, though I act, though I desperately call out into the endless cold void that I see in my mind, answers are fleeting and hushed. Am I still upon his Holy path? Does the spear in my hand still strike at the enemies of the Dark Sun, or have I too been bastardized and dominated, serving some other pretender's will like the very dogs I seek to destroy? I look within myself, within my heart and my mind, for answers. But I see only the ever-obscuring mist.

This place. . . It sickens me. It has weakened my mind. It picks at my resolve. Each breath I draw in, a new wave of toxin. Each beat of my heart, another ticking of the clock. I demand it - speak to me. Make my eyes see through this world of haunting grey. Sharpen you blade that it may serve you true. And when the time comes, I will not be denied my rightful place of power for my services.

I will rise above this visage of a mortal man who taunts me in the reflected glass.I will find them, all of them. I will reach into the darkness and I will grasp those who burn with desire, fear, and hate.I will bring those before me who are marked with the curse of want.

And I will bind us all together, lest we be destroyed by those who foolishly harbor hope. This I swear. On all that I have have done in this lost, forsaken place.